Jim S

Thank you all. I will implement your suggestions.
Jim

I have a forgemaster two burner gas forge.  Usually when it initially starts, it gurgles for a few seconds due to, I guess, premature ignition.  Several days ago the gurgling didn't go away and since I only wanted to heat a small piece of steel to anneal it, I left the steel in place for a few minutes.  However when the powder coat began crinkling (burning/melting(, I shut everything down.

Factory literature says one of the burners is igniting prematurely.  However,  there is no mention of what to do.  An email to Forgemaster has produced no response to date.  Does anyone have any suggestions for correcting the problem?

Thanks.

Jim

Thank you all for your comments. I think you are right and that my mindset has the head screwed up when I have no support for same other than the fact that I can't make the spindle turn and have been unable to effect this by moving various levers. My experience with the Bridgeport is obviously limited. I also don't want to disassemble the head any more than I have to if I get a hint that things will work without same. Right now I can do nothing until I have some free time next week. Thanks for your insights. No doubt I will be asking further questions next week.
Jim

Big Gun Doctor:
I fear that your recommendations will not work but I will recheck it this weekend. The notion of being able to lock up the spindle would prompt me to avoid further dismantlement of the head assembly if I could be certain that the bearings were not toast. I have a complete manual as well as a step-by-step procedure for taking apart the head which was done by a contributor to the web. What has concerned me is the "bearing preload" which I have little if any information about. So, your recommendation is well put. If I can get the spindle to turn without further disassemby, I will do so and see what happens when the machine is put under power. I do have some missing parts in the head as noted last night and I also have at least one missing part in the table mechanism which will have to be addressed before tackling the three phase motor issue. I'm not anticipating a proble mthere although I will have to procure another motor and wire things accordingly assuming my motor works.

Anyway my manual states that a set screw is removed from the quill an a pin wrench which I have made is used to unscrew the bottom of the quill. Nothing budges and I can't seem to locate a set screw. If I can free the spindle, I will clean what I have taken apart, repaint and reassembele moving on to the table and then the motor issue.

Thanks for your suggestions.
Jim

NT30 is a big improvement over R-8. Much better support due to the longer taper and quicker tool change.

Thanks. I brought the mill home in the back of my truck without difficulty and unloaded it with the help of my neightbor's enloader. Currently I am rebuilding the head and it looks like I will need some parts. Essentially the fine wheel is missing and the reversing "switch" is broken. The spindle taper is NT 30 and I have begun purchasing collets. Have not found a "deal" on a whole set although Grizzly sells an NT 30 adaptor to R8 which would allow me to use my current collection of collets. I assume the draw bar on the adaptor goes through it and tightens on the threads of the R8 collets.

Aside from the table that has bee sorely abused and some broken parts, the machine looks intact. I will keep you informed as I progress in rebuilding the beast.
Jim

Jim,
Congratulations on your new toy. You're going to love it. The Hardinge website has a list of the SN's made in each year. As far as I know, the Series I machines were consectutively numbered which makes the exact month and day total guesswork. Since Hardinge has taken over Bridgeport, their website will have a lot of info that you will find useful. I bought one last fall and have spent the winter restoring it.

Thanks guys for all of your supportive comments. It looks like Tuesday I'll take my F350 on a trip to pick up the Mill. The current owner said he would remove the head to make it less top heavy and put both the head and body on separate pallets. I thought I would bring ratcheting straps to secure it to the bed of my truck but then thought that maybe chains with ratcheting devices might be safer. I guess at first I was going to load it and drive home but maybe it would be dangerous even with the head off that way. Anyway, I'm going to have to find several ratcheting thing-a-ma-jigs to hook the chains to. Any thoughts to someone who has no experience with hauling heavy studd?
Jim

Nakedanvil:
Now I understand. I hope you are correct and that the spindle taper on my mill is R8. If not, you say "anything is possible", I may have some problem locating collets to fit. I thought last night that I could perhaps have the spindle taper reground or replaced. Those solutions sound expensive. At any rate, depending on the weather in the midwest, I may find out this weekend or early next week what I now own.
Again, thank you for your help.
Jim

Nakedanvil:
OK so we're hopeful that the spindle taper on my J Head is R8 so that the collets I already own and are so readily available from Enco and the like can be used to hold what few end mills I own. The ER32 collet holder pictured in your email fits into an R8 spindle but why would one use it? I have ten R8 collets that handle quite a few different diameter end mills. What does your ER32 holder possess in tool holding capabilities that ten different center hole diameter R8 collets don't have? Sorry for so many questions, but I just don't get it.
Jim

Thank you gentlemen. I hope you are right. I suspect I may become a pia fixture here as I try to make this thing go. Nakedanvil: I'm somewhat confused by your collet holder picture. Are you saying that the female part of the quill takes a collet of size ER32 or do you still maintain it's an R8? The current owner believes the machine came from Caterpillar and was designed for special collets. He seems to think they are available through ebay, and I have asked him if he has any way of ascertaining the correct collet size for the machine. Ebay is selling a set of ER32 collets so I'm not sure what this means.
Jim

Gentlemen:
Well I just hit the wrong button and reprinted BigGunDoctor's reply. What I meant to do is to thank you both for the response and note that indeed I now own the mill if PayPal will ever communicate with my bank. Thus I have not touched the machine and may well have bought a pig in a poke, but for the amount I paid for it, I have less in it then my Harbor Freight mill-drill. The Bridgeport can't be worse than it. Well maybe it can.

The serial number is J225660. Does this mean it was made in 1960, 1066, or 1956? I understand that these machines can all be rebuilt assuming parts are broken or too worn for gib tightening to correct slop? I also wonder if manuals can be had for these machines and if so where one might look. I am wondering if the ER32 tool holder is just stuck in place as the seller notes that an R8 collet will not fit it and I thought all Bridgeports used an R8 system. I'm certain some manufacturers could order machines for whatever their needs might be and thus assumed ER32 meant whoever the original purchaser might have been had tooling of this size. A tool holder does make sense, but I can't seem to visualize why it was used unless there was not an R8 collet that could fit the particular tool or it is an emergency collet or what. Obviously I have much to learn about machining on a Bridgeport.

Thanks again for your replies and if you have additional insights, I'd like to hear from you.
Jim

The date is usually part of the serial number, or stamped on the data plate.

Can you go look at the mill, or is it too far away? I ask this because some things are best determined with the mill in front of you. These type of mills get a lot of use in the middle, which wears the thread in a small area. When you run the table from end to end it will be loose in the middle, and tight at each end. With the table centered grab each end of the table, and push/pull back and forth alternately to see if the table wiggles. Sometimes a gib adjustment will fix that, sometimes not. How noisy is the head? How sloppy is the spindle? Variable speed, or step pulley? Does the vari speed work smooth?

Where are you located? Lots of these types of mills on the west coast. The mill weighs around 2,500# for a late model with a 9"x42" table, and varispeed head.Shipping can add up. You might also want to check with some used machinery dealers. I have seen nice mills with digital readouts for $2,500. I got mine at an auction for $1,800, and a used machinery dealer I know has picked them up for as little as $500 with all of the shops closing. Don't be shy about some of the Taiwanese imports. I use the Acra, more than the Bridgeport where I work.

BTW, some of the sniping software can outbid you with a couple of seconds left

I just bid on a Bridgeport Mill and my wife says that 15 seconds before the auction ends someone will outbid you. Perhaps but if they don't and I really own this thing, does anyone have some data on serial numbers and date of manufacture? Again, if, I'm looking at a variant of the collet size, not R8 but ER 32. Can anyone enlighten me as to the availability and purpose for this size collet which I am not familiar with?
Thanks,
Jim

Biggundoctor:
I'll try, but don't hold your breath. If it weren't for jobs, wives, and the fact that the last time I forged out a buttplate, it took three tries, I might have a chance. I have a custom flintlock made by Cornell Kemper in the 1970s. Per his son Cornell turned out one muzzleloading rifle per week for years up until his death in the early 2000s
Jim

I for one believe that the big Monarch will ultimately outperform any of the smaller imports available. Frankly I wish at times I had that much mass in my lathes as currently I am using an Atlas 12 x 36 and a Southbend 10 x 48. The latter is a fine machine while the former does O.K. However neither has the headstock bore to meet all of my needs. On the other hand, I don't know where I'd put another lathe in my current shop.

My mill is a Chinese Milldrill and I'm sorry I invested in it. Turned down an old Bridgeport without power feed shortly after purchasing it and truly regret the decision. In my humble opinion The old lathes and mills with all of their iron mass outperform the newer and too light imports. Also the machining even with broken gears is vastly suprerior. I've had my Harbour Freight gear driven mill/drill apart and cleaned the sand from its innards as well as tried to tune the much less than precision fit gears. However, I'm still left with a less than adequate machine that will never have the beef or the precision to match a knee mill.

While the lathes are o.k, I still wish I had the mass which ultimately will help maintain accuracy far better than what is available to hobby types like myself now.

Anyway that's my two cents worth.
Jim

Biggundoctor:
That will be a while as I now have a barrel almost fitted for a breech plug, a stock blank which I cut out and a flint lock which needs to be remodelled to fit the size necessary. Then I'll have to forge an iron buttplace and a trigger guard and shape the whole thing. However, if I get it done in my lifetime, I'll attempt to post pictures. Thanks again for your help.
Jim

ok I made the cat's paw and cut the bore to the requisite diameter in order to tap the 5/8 x 18 thread. I have cut the thread and now must fit the plug so that it bottoms at both the end of the plug and the tang. This brings me back to file and fit strategies with which I am familiar. Thanks againfor all of your help.
Jim

Thanks guys. I'll make a cats paw.
Jim

Good idea. I'll make a boring bar out of a lathe bit tomorrow. Part of my problem is my headstock bore is too small. Accordingly, the barrel overhangs the chuck about a foot and the octagon barrel precludes me using a steady rest although I may try same. I can't rell how much offcenter the bore is as I've closed the shop for the night, but I'll check it tomorrow. Thanks for your reply.
Jim

I am making a muzzleloading fowler and have a barrel that is octagon for about twelve incehs and round the rest of the barrel. My breech plug is 5/8 x 18 and per my calculations requires a 37/64 tap drill. My problem is the bore is off center. When I try to start the hole with a drill, it follows the off-center bore. Any ideas how I can make a 37/64 hole which is centered about 1/2 inch long? I thought about trying to cut an internal hole with a cutter, but tend to start rubbing before the hole develops any depth. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jim

Thank you for the replies. I live in Central Illinois where the temperature is fairly mild in comparison to other places where I have resided, but does get to minus 20 F for a time. My shop is 25' by 25' and today I will purchase a CO detector and will consider a smoke detector. My experience with the latter is the xxxx things go off if you light a cigarette. I suspect my solution is not a good one and appreciate your responses. The CO detector will probably be a wise investment that will determine quickly what to do.

I wonder if a fan in the system would help evacuate nasty gasses. What kind of fan and how should one insert same into the exhaust system?
Jim

I moved my forge into my heated workshop where there are no windows and one door. To vent the forge, I am using a chimney attached to the outside of the wooden building (this is a lined metal chimney designed for a fireplace and previously vented my wood stove which I replaced with an LP wall furnace).

My question is do you think such a setup will allow the coal smoke to exit the building realizing that this winter the one door will be shut. Secondly, I just acquired a gas forge which I thought I might use when I did not have time to fuss with the fire and would place it in the coal forge using the drafting abilities of the chimney to exhaust the carbon monoxide. In this latter scenario, I do not want to find myself passed out on the floor from CO poisoning.

All of the forges I have ever used were in drafty uninsulated open air barns and thus concerns for poisonous gases contaminating the air were moot. However, when it's -20 F, my desires to smith go south and I thought this idea would allow me to work in the winter. Your opinions, criticisms, and insults would be appreciated.

Jim

Hi:
I just joined the forum and by way of introduction I am an aspiring blacksmith who is interested in making and restoring Kentucky files. I have taken a begginning course from our local blacksmithing group and spent a week with a smith in Iowa where I forge welded a pistol barrel which I use as a paper weight and made an iron trigger guard and buttplate for a chunk gun that I recently completed.

After I retired I took several welding courses (stick, tig, mig) from our local community college but still can't do a decent vertical up and overhead is a sometime thing. I do have an ancient Southbend lathe and a Chinese mill/drill which allows me to make numerous items and ruin even greater amounts of good steel trying to make other items. I doubt that I will ever be a master welder, machinist or blacksmith but after sitting behind a desk for thirty some years, I am quite proud of my efforts,bruised knuckles, and burn scars.

Jim